The Week in Digital Wealth (6/11/24)

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Technical glitches did not hinder innovations and partnerships from springing forth, with integrations taking center stage. It looks like the end-user is back in focus. This time, embedded integrations were the in thing.

Headlines to take note of:

  • The NYSE had errors, which were (thankfully) detected and resolved;
  • The corporate bond markets are looking good with improved data access;
  • The hits (still) kept coming from Sage;
  • Temenos has a new collaboration with Mastercard;
  • Plus, the uninsured now have new life insurance options;
  • And much more!

Of course, it’s your week in digital wealth!


Wealthtech, Regtech, Regulatory, and Treasury

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)

Following a technical glitch that (massively) affected trading activities on June 3, the NYSE announced the cancellation of Berkshire Hathaway trades. Technical errors caused Berkshire’s stock price to crash to $185 per share, an over 99% discount. Stock prices had (previously) closed at $620,000 per share.

Tradeweb

Electronic trading ecosystem Tradeweb combined its interest rate swap (IRS) and repurchase agreements (repo) in an upgrade. Consequently, overnight index swaps (OIS) curves are available to institutional clients during repo trade negotiations.

BNY Mellon (Pershing)

Advisors (now) have the best of both worlds via integrations between health management solution Wove and custody product NetX360+ (both by BNY Mellon’s Pershing). Additionally, the integrations improve efficiency per personalization for the professionals.

FactSet/BondCliQ

Niche Wealthtech FactSect revealed its partnership with BondCliQ, a premier consolidated corporate bond platform. The collaboration enables FactSet’s users to access pre-trade data (from BondCliQ).

Crypto, Blockchain, and Digital Assets

Franklin Templeton/Circle/ZeroHash

On June 6 investment behemoth Franklin Templeton revealed on/off-ramp USDC stablecoin support for the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX), its money market fund. Additionally, Franklin Templeton partnered with digital asset infrastructure firm ZerHash to enable the functionality. The feature is (only) available to institutional clients.

Bank for International Settlements (BIS)

The BIS continued its foray into the CBDC space with Project Rialto, an ecosystem designed to test FX transfers via wholesale CBDCs. Project Rialto aims to improve cross-border FX transfers using modular functionality, minimizing the transaction costs incurred via correspondent banking.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

The FBI’s Portland division issued a warning about an increase in impersonation scams. The bad actors now resort to impersonating FBI (and other government) officials to demand cash, gold, or cryptocurrency payments from their victims.

Fintech, Personal Finance, and Apps

Sage

Accounting darling Sage was in the news (again) with a new product offering for its estimations cloud ecosystem. BidMatrix improves the subcontractor bid process via end-to-end integrations. Additionally, BidMatrix is (directly) integrated within the Sage Estimating cloud platform.

Edenred Pay/Northstar

Invoice-focused Fintech Edenred Pay and Northstar, a boutique hospitality management platform, announced their partnership. The collaboration enables a (fully) automated process for Northstar’s customers, giving them greater flexibility alongside reduced fraud rates.

Informed, Inc./Fuse Financial Technologies Inc.

FIs (now) have (more) options with a combined solution from AI-focused Informed and boutique Loan Origination System (LOS) Fuse. According to a June 4 press release, banks and other financial institutions can integrate workflows, conduct verification, and detect fraud on the go.

Vertex, Inc./SAP

Tax-focused Fintech Vertex unveiled Accelerator+, a SAP ERP-compatible product that combines the Vertex Chain Flow Accelerator and Vertex Accelerator. Also, the tax management solution provides organizations with a forward-leaning basis to (seamlessly) migrate to SAP S/4HANA, the go-to ERP for mid to large enterprises.

Banking, Payments, and Infrastructure

Temenos/Mastercard

In a June 4 blog post, financial software giant Temenos announced a partnership with Mastercard. The cooperation integrates Mastercard Move into the Temenos Payments Hub.

Additionally, the collaboration improves cross-border payments for FIs globally, with Mastercard’s flexible payment options available in over 180 countries.

Q2 Holdings, Inc./ModernFi

Seamless integrations were (again) in play with a partnership between Austin, Texas-based Q2 Holdings and FI-focused ModernFi. The collaboration integrates ModernFi into the Q2 Partner Accelerator Program, enabling FIs to offer insured sweep accounts for high-net-worth individuals (HNIs).

Furthermore, additional insurance is available (for HNIs) via the Q2 Digital Banking Platform.

Live Oak Bank/Anatomy Financial

SMB-focused unveiled its cooperation with Anatomy Financial, a niche embedded banking Fintech. The collaboration enables Live Oak’s products and services on Anatomy’s app, improving customers’ experiences.

Netevia/Tillo

Cashback and reward programs are back in the game with a partnership between Tillo and niche Fintech Netevia. The cooperation integrates Tillo’s API-driven gift card ecosystem with the Netevia platform, offering customers special treats when using banking, payments, shopping, or other services.

REtech, Insurtech and Investing

CLARA Analytics

Compensation for workers (now) has new safeguards with the introduction of CLARA Fraud (by CLARA Analytics). AI-powered CLARA Fraud applies large compensation datasets to provide transparency for dubious claims.

Additionally, the solution goes beyond the surface to assess claims (sincerely), providing a backdrop for improved accuracy.

1Fort

Near-instant quotes (for brokers) are now available with the launch of an AI-powered marketplace by niche Insurtech 1Fort. The new ecosystem helps independent brokers improve their accuracy per process.

Also, a custom-built GPT chatbot answers client’s questions.

Quility

Whole life insurance is (just) a click away with the introduction of the Quility Secure Future Complete (QSFC), a new product suite by the boutique Insurtech. QSFC offers four offerings: Guaranteed Issue Whole Life, Express Issue Premier, Express Issue Deluxe, and Express Issue Whole Life.

Furthermore, the new products improve the availability of life insurance for those who have been (previously) declined.